Looking good

High fashion no longer an exclusive preserve, explodes out on the streets

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High fashion is finally out of the closets. In need of a new outfit for tonight's party? Don't panic. It's just down the road at your friendly neighbourhood boutique. Or rather, boutiques. Suddenly, fashion is no longer cocooned in five-star hotel arcades as the private preserve of perfumed socialites. It's now rioting in the streets in dozens of boutiques flourishing hip-to-hip in almost every big city.

Instant fashion, off the rack and ready-to-wear, now sports the labels of a bewildering range of purveyors with a mushrooming string of city outlets: Inter Shoppe, Ravissant, Burlingtons, Benzer, In Style, Ritu's, Wearhouse, International News, Vibes, Saks, Guys'n' Dolls.

There's a new label being added almost every second day. Whether occupying prime space at the neighbourhood market-place or even the garage next door, high fashion is exploding - right at the doorstep.

Instant fashion, off the rack and ready-to-wear, now sports the labels of a bewildering range of purveyors.

Today's woman does not have the time to buy the fabric, choose a style, find a tailor and then chase him. She wants it all together.

It's a revolution in life-styles. Everybody is getting into the act.

And, despite new boutiques opening at the drop of a shirt, the boom seems to be just starting. Initially, it was the garment exporters feeding fashion outside the shores of the country who looked inwards to recognise the explosive potential of this market.

Today, even large business houses like the Modis have decided to cash in with their new boutique, Obsession, in Delhi's posh New Friends Colony. "There is space for everyone," says Bibin Hara, manager of the Calcutta branch of Ritu's Boutique, one of the first boutique chains in the country.

Vijay Mehta, the fashion magnate who heads the largest boutique chain in the country, Inter Shoppe, estimates: "There has been at least a 500 to 1,000 per cent increase in the market over the last five years."

"Ready-to-wear has caught on like never before,'' feels Rama Sood of Burling-tons. And this craze is not just restricted to the fashion cities of Delhi and Bombay only. In Madras, says Sabita Radhakrishna of Amrapalli, one of the oldest boutiques in the city: "There has been such a boutique boom that every other road now has one."

In Calcutta every second week, city newspapers advertise the entry of a new boutique on the fashion scene. In conservative Bhopal, ready-made garments stores (they are yet to adopt the fancy name of "boutiques") have mushroomed with sales growing four times in the last two years.

Ready-to-wear fashions are exploding. High fashion is no longer an exclusive preserve.

Any evening in New Market - Bhopal's main shopping centre - will show that
more and more women are discarding their burqas and sarees and opting
for the more convenient and fashionable ready-to-wear. In Cochin, last
year alone 17 new posh ready-made garments stores opened and all of them
are doing well.

In Kottayam, several paan shops on M.G. Road have been converted into air-conditioned ready-made garments shops. Last month in Trichur, three new ready-made clothes stores opened the same day. Ready-to-wear casuals are the rage with youngsters in Ahmedabad though most of the fashion-conscious prefer to do their shopping in Bombay; just as those in Lucknow shop in Delhi.

Even in Patna, which would appear to be immune to the fashion virus, more and more people are demanding "Delhi-type clothes", according to Surendra Gogia who runs a popular ready-made garments shop in Hira Palace market.

Fashion-consciousness has grown tremendously over the last few years and has spread to almost every corner of the country. "Teenagers in our days had no dress sense. They were just lost somewhere in between children and adults," recalls Bina Ramani, 43, who opened her new boutique, Once Upon a Time, in Delhi last month.

Adds Parmeshwar Godrej, who began the Dancing Silks boutique in the Oberoi Towers, Bombay years ago: "The younger generation is becoming increasingly aware about being well turned out." The surfacing of the fashion rage among women can also be explained by its economics: the rising disposable income with the increasing number of young working women. Not only is the woman aware of what would look good on her now, but she also has the money to buy it. "This has made fashion monetarily more realistic,"says Godrej.

An astonishing variety of boutiques is flourishing hip-to-hip in every big city.

Vijay Mehta, 40 SALES Rs 5 crore a year LINE OF SPECIALITY Young, trendy ready-to-wear"There has been a 500 to 1,000 per cent increase in the market over the last five years."

Feeding this fashion epidemic is the growing number of boutiques and the reasons for their increasing popularity are not far to seek. "It's so much easier: they think for you," says Savita Jasra, 20, browsing through the latest boutique on Linking Road in Bombay. "They give you better designs, combinations and variety," feels Sharmishta Law, systems analyst at Calcutta. Argues Aditya Dhala of Good Shepherds, Madras; "You can make instant decisions since you know what it looks like on the spot."

In Ahmedabad, Shiraz Cambatta prefers boutique-wear as "good tailors are so hard to come by nowadays". And Reema Dhawan, a young marketing executive in Bombay, sums it all up: "If you want something razzmatazz, that's the only place."

Neither is the craze confined to the fairer sex. "I don't remember when I went to a tailor last," says Selvan, 24, an engineer in Bangalore. Adds Sanjay Dodeja, manager at Amigo boutique for men on Brigade Road, Bangalore: "The ready-to-wear fever is catching up with all classes at all ages."

Even in the backwaters of Kerala in Idukki "Chirag Din shirts have become a status symbol," says Thomas George, a middle class cardamom dealer who had come to Kottayam last fortnight just to buy himself a Chirag Din shirt. (This, despite the manufacturers' claim that their shirts are sold only in Bombay.) And being drawn into the fold of the fashion fever are millions, as helpless tailors watch them go, attracted by the convenience and variety of ready-to-wear.

"I can duplicate a pant or shirt of any leading manufacturer and it would be better than the original. But still, in the last few months my business has come down because my customers are preferring expensive ready-mad-es," grumbles Kocha Annan of Flaming Tailors, once Trivandrum's leading tailor.

Bangalore's Pisey Tailors are more realistic and have shifted their
tailoring operation to the interior of their shop, renting out the front
portion for ready-to-wear sales. The situation is not so bad in towns
like Lucknow and Patna where tailors still retain a good clientele
despite the clear trend towards ready-mades.

But in Delhi and
Bombay, many tailors have realised that the days of personalised
tailor-made outfits are fast coming to an end and have come together to
begin fabrication units for ready-to-wear units. "It's easier for the
tailors also," says Abdul Sattar, who stitches most of the ready-to-wear
range at Memsaab boutique on Hill Road in Bandra, Bombay.

Boutiques
with exclusive labels, once worn only by ritzy stores selling high
fashion which only the elite could afford, are now throwing open their
doors to the common man.''The awe of boutiques has gone," says Nalini
Sharma, one of the pioneers in the business with Nalini Sarees. "Today,
they cater to people right across the board," she adds.

Fashion-consciousness has grown tremendously among the middle class over the last few years.

Ritu Kumar, 42 SALES Over Rs 1 crore a year LINE OF SPECIALITY Zardozi"There used to be a price range above which ready-to-wear was not acceptable. Now, that barrier has been broken."

If the up-market is looking for exclusive designer-wear, they pick it off-the-shelf at boutiques like Ravissant or Ritu's Zardozi collection. Here an outfit can cost anywhere from Rs 1,500 to Rs 10,000 or more."There used to be a price range above which ready-made garments were not acceptable.

Now that barrier has been broken," says Ritu Kumar, who has more demand for her Zardozi than she can handle. But down the fashion spiral, there is a boutique for every pocket. At Nalini's, the price ranges between Rs 150 and Rs 3,500, at Inter Shoppe between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000, and they dip sharply at the garage boutiques in the colonies where the quality would be as good but the overheads much lower.

And for those who want to be in fashion and for whom the budget doesn't
stretch to boutiques, there is always the pavement bazaar selling you
surplus from garment exporters at throwaway prices and making fashion a
reality on the streets. "If you've got the eye you find everything
here," says Ambica Kuthiala, an executive at OBM Advertising and a
long-time regular at the bazaar. "You find things at the footpath which
you wouldn't ever find in the shops," adds her twin Amba.

Boutique
owners also acknowledge the importance and impact of the pavement
bazaar on the Indian fashion scene. "These pavement shops are playing a
very important role in changing apparel habits," says Vijay Mehta of
Inter Shoppe. "The first ripple of change starts here and the next time,
they come to the boutiques to get better quality."

Whether it is
the pavement bazaar or designer-wear the buyers are there, clamouring
for more. And each one finds a price bracket to settle into - or squeeze
into. Being in fashion is becoming increasingly important. "I'll take a
bus instead of an autorickshaw to work to save enough to buy the clothes
I like,'' says Meena Jain, a young stenographer in Delhi.' 'You can't
be popular in college if you're out of fashion," says Aarti, a first
year student.

Crores are being spent on advertising for image-building and creating loyalty to designer labels.

Ravi Chawla, 45 SALES Rs 1.5 crore a year LINE OF SPECIALITY High fashion ready-to-wear"Indian styles are chic in the cut but less revealing than designer wear in the West."

So, accompanying the constant whirr of electric sewing-machines at the ready-to-wear manufacturers is the loud ringing of cash registers. The Inter Shoppe chain grosses Rs 5 crore a year and sales are growing at 50 per cent per annum. Mehta intends to open another 10 shops next year in semi-metro towns like Pune, Baroda, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, apart from new ones in Bombay, Delhi and Bangalore.

At Benzer, the departmental store in Bombay, ready-to-wear contributes as much as 60 per cent of the gross revenue of Rs 4 crore to Rs 5 crore each year. "Day by day, it's growing," says Chiman Savla, one of the partners. In Style, which opened in November 1983, has doubled its sales over the last three years. Ravissant grosses Rs 1.5 crore from three outlets.

Ritu's rakes in nothing short of Rs 1 crore a year. Shilpi's sales in Madras have grown ten times in the last seven years. Chiragh Din, 'the shirt's people', admit to a growth of 40 per cent in sales over last year and is opening a new outlet selling only ready-to-wear trousers. Newman shirts in Delhi have been growing at 100 per cent a year and have reached an annual turnover of Rs 2 crore.

Equus shirts in Madras have almost doubled their turnover in eight
months. Raymonds, with their new Park Avenue Collection, recorded a 50
per cent hike in sales in their fashionable Warden Road showroom in
Bombay. Even a new boutique like Obsession already has a whopping
turnover of Rs 25,000 a day in its very first month, and Ramani opened
Once Upon a Time with sales of Rs 10,000 a day in the first fortnight.
And profit margins in this business hover around a meaty 50 per cent.

At
smaller boutiques too, sales are rising faster than hemlines. At Saks
and Part-2 on Bombay's Linking Road, sales have upped seven times since
they opened in 1982-83. A chain like Bangalore's Wearhouse, which deals
in only export surplus - and was opened only because warehouse rents for
stocking export surplus were becoming too high - reported a sales increase
of one-and-a-half times in the last year. "What started as a stepchild
has begun to beat the other children," confesses Dinesh Hinduja, partner
in Wearhouse.

The fashion boom, however, is no accident. The bigger fashion houses,
which have grabbed a lion's share of the market, have stitched together
careful marketing strategies. For some, image-building and
exclusiveness are the pegs on which to hang their marketing hats. In
Style labels itself "The most fashionable address in India", Benzer
calls its shoppers "A class apart", Inter Shoppe pushes its "Futuristic
Fashions" image and the Raymonds Park Avenue Collection "Says style.
Unmistakably."

And most of them buttress their claims with hefty advertising
budgets. Chiragh Din spends Rs 17 lakh to 18 lakh a year, Benzer Rs 10
lakh to 12 lakh and Inter Shoppe Rs 18 lakh."Today they buy labels, not
clothes," says Nasser Latif of Sunyanavt boutique and ready-mades in
Cochin.

Noticing the craze for Chiragh Din and Double Bull
shirts, Latif started his own range of Godfather shirts which were
manufactured in the same units that were supplying shirts to these
popular brands in Bombay. But he had spent more time on designing his
shirts than an image for their label, and his shirts flopped.

The darzis have realised that the days of made-to-measure clothes are over.

Bina Modi, 42 SALES Rs 25,000 a day in first month LINE OF SPECIALITY Trousers and Skirts"Indian designers may be good but very few are exposed to western styles."

''Ultimately
I had to remove my label from the shirts pockets to sell my products,"
recounts a bitter Latif. Kannan of Seemati, one of Kerala's biggest
ready-mades shop owners recognised this "brand-consciousness" early in
the day and carefully launched his Monsier-Gent's Exclusive.

His sales zoomed from five shirts to 45-50 shirts a day."We try and sell
a look, not a garment," says Sadhana Sabharwal, a member of the Inter
Shoppe designing team. And the success of that look hinges just as much
on the image portrayed in the ad campaigns and the interior decor of the
shop as on the clothes. For each price bracket, the look is different.

The high-fashion merchants as Ravissant like to emphasise the
exclusivity of belonging to this bracket. Ads flaunting only the label
as a status symbol, invitation cards by name to the target audience,
personalised birthday and anniversary greetings to customers. To
complement it in the shop, they have studio lights and a hushed effect
suggesting restricted entry. Boutiques catering to the young crowd
flaunt the slick look of the West - breathless action-packed ads, dazzling
neons beckoning outside the shop, and loud English music inviting you
in.

The fashion explosion is, in the Indian context, an idea whose time has come.

More
people are switching from tailored to ready-to-wear garments for the
simple reason that time is at a premium. "Today's woman does not have
the time to first buy fabric, choose a style, find a tailor and then
chase him. She wants it all together," says Bina Pandit, in-charge of
production at Ritu's Boutique in Delhi.

The increase in young working women has meant that they have more money for clothes.

Bina Ramani, 43 SALES Rs 10,000 a day in first month LINE OF SPECIALITY Brocade and Sequins Work"A tremendous fashion awareness is coming in. There is an excitement in the air today."

"We provide instant ideas
to the busy executive for whom time is money," says T.R. Ranay, one of
the partners of In Style, which boasts of a display of over 300 styles
in men's shirts. There is, of course, another reason. More and more
Indians are shedding inhibitions - and the traditional saree and suit
ensemble - in favour of fashion. "Initially, our clientele used to be only
from the few rich business families," says Ravi Chawla of Ravissant.
"But now we also have wives of senior executives and lady executives
coming in."

And, he could well add, bringing with them a new dress sense and
awareness. Just a few years ago, Chawla recalls, he could tell his
customers on the phone that a new style had come in and they would say:
Keep it for us. But today his customer has very definite ideas about
what she would feel comfortable in. "It's a drastic change," says he.
"They know exactly what they want."

Today's woman is not only more
definite about her dress sense but wants outfits to suit a variety of
occasions, even to go to the office. Which explains why one of the
biggest alterations in the fashion market has been the dazzling variety
of salwars on display. Inter Shoppe has at least 30 to 40 variations of
the salwar at any time - the dhoti salwar, Patiala salwar, combination
salwar, tapered salwar, "ankle salwar, and the pin-tucked salwar. The
kurtas, loose and flouncy until recently, are tapering off to a narrow
silhouette. Padded shoulders and narrow hems combine to give a square
look.

The young collegiates have discarded the dupattas for
scarves and short jackets. But feels Alka Kapoor, design and production
manager at Ravissant: "The dupatta is an essential part of the Indian
woman's psychology." But that doesn't rule out fascinating
innovations - it could be caught on one end with long flowing tassles, it
could be merging into a sleeve at one end, it could be a short fabric
stitched into the kurta at the shoulders to provide just a fall at the
neck, it could be an improvised collar extended and flung over one
shoulder.

Loose baggy trousers with lots and lots of pleats are stubbornly
dominating trouser fashions although for girls, ankle-length leotards
have made a daring entry with long and loose T-shirts. Bright sashes and
broad belts complete the ensemble with coordinated shoes. Long gathered
skirts to the ankles are swirling in to join narrow, figure-hugging
midis with suggestive slits and oversized shirts and jackets.

The bold prints and stark contrasts in winter colours are now making
way for fresh sunflower yellows, emerald greens, flaming oranges with
cheerful floral prints. Most fashion houses are already splashing in
whites for the summer along with lilacs, mints, lemon yellows and baby
pinks.

Even the traditional saree market has changed with the introduction of designer sarees.

Rajesh Nanda, 29 SALES (From one outlet) Over Rs 1 crore LINE OF SPECIALTTY Designer Sarees"With the advent of the designer saree, everybody is trying to establish a label in sarees."

The image in vogue appears to be that of the complete woman - smart,
independent-minded and elegant. A lot of boutiques have recognised this
and have introduced a range of handbags, footwear and accessories to go
with their dresses. Varna in Bombay, best known for its sarees, is also
into the ready-to-wear business in a big way. It has also started a new
range of shoes and bags. "Today's woman wants the total look," says Jaya
Patel, the younger of the two sisters managing the shop.

As for
the smartening up of the men, says Sanjeev Anand, 25, browsing through
show windows at Connaught Place in Delhi: "Men have always been fashion
conscious. It's just that we have better designs available today with
the increase in competition." But Raju Daswani, partner, Chiragh Din,
senses a change:' 'Men seem to have polished their tastes now. Fancy is
out, sober is in." But not too sober. The hottest selling colours in
shirts for men at Ravissant are turquoise blue, purple, pink and red.

The
young men on the campus wear a new look. They wear a riot of colours
too but gone are the shaggy manes and hirsute faces of male students.
The emphasis is no w on the "clean look". Conservatism is making a
come-back. Crew-cuts, clean-shaves, well-cut trousers - or "clean" jeans.

Among
the most rapidly expanding markets today is designer-wear for men.
After the astonishing array of labels in men's shirts (Park Avenue,
Chiragh Din, Double Bull, Liberty, Four Seasons, Newman,
Equus.Monsier...). "The big market potential now is ready-to-wear suits
for men," says Sunil Arora of Impulse, one of the leading buying houses
in garments exports. And not just designer suits.

So enthused is Raymonds with the response to its Park Avenue designer
range, that it is now contemplating introducing a designer range of
underwear for men. And Appearances in Delhi, which began modestly four
years ago in a side lane in South Extension, has now decided to cater to
the "complete appearance" of a man with shirts, trousers, suits, ties,
designer shoes and even a beauty parlour for men.

It's a
revolution in life-styles. Everybody's getting into the act. So, enter
"The Designer Saree". The craze for "signature sarees" began in
pockets - city pockets, that is: Ananda in Calcutta, Vama in Bombay,
Maheshwaris in Madras. "Today, it has become a status symbol. The tag is
more important than the saree itself," says Nalini Sharma of Nalini's.

Signature
sarees are the rage today - L'affaire, Vichitra, Ravissant, are all
scrambling for what was once considered an essentially traditional
market. ' 'Everybody is trying to establish a label in sarees. That is
why you suddenly see so many saree advertisements in the newspapers
today," says Rajesh Nanda, who started L'affaire as an exclusive
designer saree showroom distinct from the Handloom Emporium, also owned
by his family and dealing in sarees.

Today he has a turnover of more than Rs 1 crore from only one shop and
has nine designers working full-time in his studios trying to reproduce
on sarees, traditional prints from old folk art, like the Mithila
paintings. "Designer sarees have changed the old culture of sarees being
sold by lalas sitting on gaddis," says Nanda.

"The Festival of India
and Vishwakarma sales have made the handloom saree chic," says Varna's
Patel, whose boutique specialises in handloom sarees and whose regular
clientele includes Shabana Azmi and, until recently, Smita Patil. "The
designer sarees are drawing a much younger crowd," says Panna Kamdar of
Vichitra.

They used to run after French chiffons once, but today the rage is
traditional cottons. "Even Sonia Gandhi wears them,'' says Kamdar. In
less than two years, sales at Vichitra sarees, an offshoot of the
well-known Uttam saree house, have already caught up with and are racing
beyond the levels reached in the last 40 years.

In fact, it is surprising just how much is being - and can be - done to
the saree. Ravissant sarees have loud prints splashing across the entire
saree, and no pallav. The favourite colours at the moment - orange and
green.

Ananda sarees are trying to revive old traditional prints."Nothing can
be more beautiful than a traditional Indian saree beautifully worn,"
says Ghostho Kumar, designing for Ananda. Vichitra is following the
colours coming in the West in sarees too. Instead of the gold-yellow
which dominated this season, the colours for the coming season will be
mauve, violet and indigo. The latest in saree fashions are identical
shawls to match them.

While L'affaire goes so far as to weave shawls
in identical patterns as the saree, Nalini has introduced bold and
bright prints in shawls to match the sarees. Besides, to match with
identical sarees and shawls are coordinated blouses. Specialising in
this is Isha Chopra in her latest boutique, Razzle Dazzle. Chopra offers
cholis in zardozi work designed to match with the print of your saree.

Boutiques provide style with convenience and offer prices to fit every pocket.

Jaya Patel, 25 SALES (Refuses to divulge) LINE OF SPECIALITY Sarees and Salwar Kameez"Today's woman has no time to waste. She wants the total look and ready-to-wear is convenient."

Professional designers in India so far have all had their eyes trained on the export market, and that is reflected in much of the fashions available in the domestic market. Inter Shoppe's Mehta says his designing team travels abroad to absorb the styles of the West and bring them in. Chimes in Chawla: "I do have separate designers, fabricators and manufacturing personnel, but when I finally get down to decide the Ravissant shapes for the season, subconsciously I must be following the styles of the West."

Others are still more forthright: "As the dress hemlines go higher in the West, our kurta hemlines follow the same style; as the skirts go tighter there, our kurtas do the same," says Patel, who designs outfits for Varna. Yet, they all admit that the kind of clothes an Indian woman would be able to carry off are very different from the West. "They are chic in the cut but less revealing," says Chawla.

"There is still a resistance to the outrageous," says Percy Rehman of International News in Bangalore. So there are modifications in western styles to suit the Indian climate, but very little original designing. "The pathetic part about the Indian fashion boom is that designers still don't get their due," says Ritika Chopra of Guys 'n' Dolls."Boutiques want the designs but they don't want to pay professional designers for them," complains Sandeep Anand, a free-lance designer trying to make a dent into the domestic market.

Besides, the bias in favour of designers from the West is yet to be erased. Says Bina Modi, who prefers to design the Obsession dresses herself:"If I do take on a professional designer I will take someone from abroad. Indian designers may have a good sense of designing, but very few are exposed to the western world." For her men's range, Obsession for Men, to be launched shortly, she has appointed Italian designer Albert Benitsky.

But there are hopes of this changing with the new National Institute of Fashion Technology, the first-ever institute for fashion designing in India, scheduled to open its doors to aspiring designers in New Delhi next month. "For the first time we have formal training in pattern cutting available in India - a must for any designer," says Anand, who plans to enrol at the institute."We may finally have genuine home-"bred designers with this," says Mehta. But even on borrowed ideas, the up-market fashion is not doing badly. Against the four distinct seasons in the West, India has five - with collections just as distinct - to cater to a wider variation in the temperature.

Designer-wear for men is one of the most rapidly expanding markets today.

Chiman Savla, 35 SALES (In ready-to-wear) Rs 2.5 crore a year LINE OF SPECIALITY Men's Wear"Earlier the middle class stayed away. Now even they are buying exclusive ready-to-wear."

The most elaborate collection, as in the West, is the Winter Collection, introduced just before Christmas and the New Year. It is European in its look and the colours are a combination of the bright and the dark. The Ravissant collection this season displayed stark, eye-catching contrasts of bright blue with dark green, blood red with fuchsia pink, purple with bright yellow.

Spring ushers in a light carefree look - off with the cumbersome woollens. The colours are still bright, but they are combined with pastels. Then comes the Holiday Collection in May, which has pastels and whites for those unable to escape the heat of the plains, but also concentrates on a distinct range for those off to the hills, and a separate range of beach wear.

The monsoons bring in a change once more with the wet look and the trousers inching above the ankles, and finally come September and the Ethnic Collection for that traditional festive look over Puja, Dussehra and Diwali. But whatever the season, as far as the Indian fashion industry is concerned, it looks like being a long and fruitful summer.